Barbara Bush Foundation awards $25,000 to local Families READ program

Thursday, June 23, 2011

courtesy photo Mrs. Barbara Bush, right, of The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy's Maine Family Literacy Initiative, presents an award of $25,000 to Pam Cote, of Sanford Community Adult Education's Families READ program during a special ceremony in Biddeford on June 15. Click here to view Foster's prints for sale

SPRINGVALE/BIDDEFORD — The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy's Maine Family Literacy Initiative (MEFLI) has awarded $25,000 to Sanford Community Adult Education's Families READ (Reach, Explore, Achieve, Dream) program.

Pam Cote, of Families READ, accepted the award from Mrs. Bush at a ceremony held at the J. Richard Martin Community Center in Biddeford on June 15.

Families READ operates on Sanford Community Adult Education's academic campus in Springvale. Family literacy participants attend academic classes at the Anderson Learning Center on Bradeen Street and participate in intergenerational time, playgroups, and support groups at the school's child care center, First Steps. Families READ pays 100-percent of the parent's education and family support costs, including payment for books, classes, child care (at First Steps) and transportation to classes and Families READ playgroups. In addition, if a parent graduates from SCAE while in the Families READ program, he or she continues to receive free child care while pursuing the next step in his or her education.

"The abilities to read, write and comprehend enable people to create brighter and more prosperous futures for themselves, their families and their communities," Mrs. Bush said during her announcement of the funds. "The staff and volunteers with the MEFLI programs are making a wonderful difference in many lives, and I am proud of their work to make Maine a more literate state."

A total of ten grants of $25, 000 were awarded this year from applications submitted by libraries, adult education and public schools across the state. Programs receiving support provide family literacy services, including adult and early childhood instruction, and time for parents and children to read together. An additional two planning grants of $5,000 each will help communities develop the partnerships and resources needed to implement a family literacy program in 2011.

Five "Lighthouse Model Programs" grants of $25,000 have also been awarded to well-established, model family literacy programs that have proposed outreach activities to support the promotion and expansion of family literacy services in Maine. Applicants were selected based on their ability to demonstrate experience and success in providing family literacy programming, the creativity of their outreach activities, and the diversity of their partnerships and target audiences.

Since 1996, The Maine Family Literacy Initiative has awarded 243 grants totaling $4,341,991. To learn more, visit

www.mainefamilyliteracy.com

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Founded by Barbara Bush in 1989, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy supports the development and expansion of family literacy programs — in settings where parents and children read and learn together — across the United States. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to nonprofit organizations, correctional institutions, homeless shelters, schools and school districts, libraries and community- and faith-based agencies.

As of June 2011, the Foundation has awarded over $40 million to 902 family literacy programs in 50 states including the nation's capital. In addition to its national program, the Foundation supports the work of four statewide initiatives in Maine, Texas, Maryland and Florida.

The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy is a fund of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region in Washington, DC. To learn more, visit

www.barbarabushfoundation.com

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Posted by Margie Genereux  on June 23, 2011 | Read more in: News